Delusions of Power: New Explorations of the State, War, and Economy By Robert Higgs Paperback 1598130455 9781598130454 Economics Delusions of Power: New Explorations of the State, War, and Economy Taking a close look at the dense fabric that our government weaves between war, state power, and economics, this collection of essays reveals the growing authority—and corruption—of the American state. Covering topics from the Lyndon Johnson presidency to the provocatively titled article “Military Economic Fascism” on the military industrial congressional complex, it argues that the U.S. government consistently exploits national crises and then invents timely rhetoric that limits the rights and liberties of all citizens for the benefit of the few, be they political leaders or various industrialists in the areas of defense and security. As its title suggests, this book presents a clear narrative of trends and events—from the United States’ entry into World War II to the origins of income tax—causing individuals to question whether those in power are truly blind to the effects and causes of their policies.

Delusions of thought

It will preside over deals effectively Why are programs passed indiscriminately Because the situation is perceived as exceptional few have a clear idea what should be done There are no recipes for exceptional situations The public cry during a crisis is not a for a particular government action Why is the after crisis retrenchment incomplete Because organized groups can shift mission. Delusions of powerc cctv footage The organized groups stand to lose substantial value and because they are already organized for one purpose they can use their organizational advantage for further purposes A new purpose is the legitimacy of old kind of purpose in new kinds of circumstances For example.

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Sooner or later During crises the government accelerates the passing of proposals which are already about to be implemented. Types of delusions in delusional disorder The main reservoirs of crisis governmental actions are not so much the fresh proposals formulated as the crisis develops They are the set of plans and programs which the government was already seeking to implement and the proposals already put forth by organized groups. Delusions of power history pdf It s the direction of the normal flow that matters Crises only accelerate the passage of existing logs in the direction of the flow in normal times.

Delusions of passivity

In this book Robert Higgs summarizes his ideas on why we have to challenge the existence of government One by one he knocks down as dominoes the rationalization to preserve government Many people can t imagine a world without government because we were raise by government to believe it is a necessary institution If humans had the creativity to create governments we have so to create its alternatives Innovation has being restrained by the straw man discourse from governments Like Dickens Emperor Clothes we are reluctant to see and Higgs does a great job in opening our eyes to understand that a world without government as we know it is not the same as a world of chaos 336 A collection of essays by Robert Higgs setting forth from various aspects the utter folly of government planning Definitely worth adding in the canon of good anarcho libertarian literature 336 This in not Higgs at his most scholarly Many of these previously published essays first appeared in The Freeman The Independent Review and various publications of the Mises Institute And in some ways that s a positive this is Higgs at his most trenchant telling it like it is Lest anyone protest that the state s true function or duty or end is as Locke Madison and countless others have argued to protect individuals rights to life liberty and property the evidence of history clearly shows that as a rule real states do not behave accordingly The idea that states actually function along such lines or that they strive to carry out such a duty or to achieve such an end resides in the realm of wishful thinking Although some states in their own self interest may sometimes protect some residents of their territories other than the state s functionaries such protection is at best highly unreliable and all too often nothing but a solemn farce Moreover it is invariably mixed with crimes against the very people the state purports to protect because the state cannot exist at all without committing the crimes of extortion and robbery which states call taxation and as a rule this existential state crime is but the merest beginning of its assaults on the lives liberties and property of its resident population p 15 Bracing stuff As he himself admits in the Introduction Higgs has come to the conclusion after his years of study of the state and its depredations that a completely stateless society must be preferable to life under any state including the current American state as we know it. Economics delusions of power examples It s hard to disagree with him though I don t think most of these essays will do much to convince those who aren t already on board For those of us who are it s a jolly entertaining read We need not dwell long on the logic of garden variety military economic corruption As pots of honey attract flies so pots of money attract thieves and con men No organization has money at its disposal than the U. Delusions of powerb bi S government which attracts thieves and con men at least in full proportion to its control of wealth Unscrupulous private parties who desire to gain a slice of the government s booty converge on the morally dismal swamp known as Washington D. Delusions of super powers and take whatever actions they expect will divert a portion of the loot into their own hands Anyone who expects honor among thieves will be sorely disappointed by the details of these sordid activities p 207 If only Higgs had a prominent pulpit he would be our generation s Mencken. Delusions of powerf f1 S government has been on lately first as a result of the attacks of September 11 2001 and recently from the financial crisis of 2007 2008 and the following recession The warfare state got a huge boost from the former as the War on Terror has served as a well nigh perfect pretext for foreign invasions domestic rights abasement and virtually unchecked surveillance of the populous all to the benefit of that fiendish cancer known as the Military Industrial Congressional Complex MICC now metastasized into the Department of Homeland Security And the crony capitalist regulatory state has benefited from the latter both via the newfangled institutionalization of the too big to fail doctrine and the traditional pork spreading of unprecedented levels of stimulus spending and other vulgar Keynesian policies All with nary a peep from a blissfully unaware or likely deluded nation of sheep I m not sure by the way if this is the delusion referred to by the title of the book but it s hard to think of a better description given how readily the support the troops and defending our freedom propaganda has been swallowed hook line and sinker I think the rent seekers of the MICC can sleep easy at night knowing that their trough will be abundantly overflowing for the indefinite future. Kindle delusions of power free It s not a happy story that Higgs has to tell and so this book may not be everyone s cup of tea for pleasure reading But the truth telling he provides here and elsewhere really needs to be widely digested 336 Ch 1A long term view of the social contract As the story goes when individuals contract out from the state of nature they give up liberties to a public entity in exchange for security Higgs points out that over time after the contract is concluded the public entity takes and of the remaining liberties and provides less and less of the promised security. Delusions of powerknowledge Symmetrically he suggests in a no state world an anarchy animated by the principles of the market the amount of liberties not given away might increase in the longer term both the amount of freedom and the level of security The degree of social disorder tends to decrease in no state world. Delusions of power economics pdf A rent seeking society The state functionaries and their cronies in the private sector with whom they contract run schemes to take property without consent Before such schemes are run they have to be designed Individuals commit real resources to design them and win the competition of having these schemes run through Congress and have them sanctioned. Delusions of powerjack Individuals join the stampede for control and engages in legal plunder as a way to get some value back to amortize the costs of being controlled taxed and regulated Ch 4 Are politicians responsible for their actions Some claim that the people have elected politician X therefore the people are responsible for that politician s actions The error here is to trace responsibility back only one step. Delusions of powerland Whoever becomes the most salient candidate advancing a particular policy in some platform must have won the competition for that attention space That candidate could not have won the competition for attention space without the support of those who are already powerful. Work with delusions pdf During normal times government grows at a constant slow rate Policy proposals can be likened to floating logs thrown to float downstream with the natural flow of the main progressive ideological current. Delusions of grandeur psychology Responsibilities are transferred slowly and constantly from the commercial and nonprofit sector towards the government The floating logs are so numerous that logjams form During normal times logs impede each other s passage Almost all proposal meet sufficient organized opposition. Delusions of super powers Logrolling is the process whereby congressmen or generally organized interests barter reciprocal support for their respective programs Logrolling accelerates because third party opposition and public opposition to political deals loses its potency. Delusions of grandeur psychology Iron triangles are deals between three actors a governmental public service or purchasing agency a private beneficiary or private supplier and a committee with appropriation authority which uses its power to sponsor the deal When the committee with appropriative authority enjoys discretion military spending in 1940 was 1 percent of the GDP Four years later is was 40 percent After the war military organizations now regrouped to grapple with the Soviet threat How can one prevent government growth One can prevent government growth only if one reverses the direction of the natural flow. Delusions of poweri bi Crises occur anyway whatever that is 336 A little disappointed in this one after all the great things I ve heard about Higgs The first two essays were great but I generally think it s a mistake for an author to collect miscellaneous articles cram them together and represent it as a unified book The result lacks coherence even if all the individual writings are fine 336

Delusions of Power: New Explorations of the State, War, and Economy By Robert Higgs

1598130455

9781598130454

English

336

Paperback

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Taking a close look at the dense fabric that our government weaves between war state power and economics this collection of essays reveals the growing authority and corruption of the American state Covering topics from the Lyndon Johnson presidency to the provocatively titled article Military Economic Fascism on the military industrial congressional complex it argues that the U. Delusions of poweredge S government consistently exploits national crises and then invents timely rhetoric that limits the rights and liberties of all citizens for the benefit of the few be they political leaders or various industrialists in the areas of defense and security As its title suggests this book presents a clear narrative of trends and events from the United States entry into World War II to the origins of income tax causing individuals to question whether those in power are truly blind to the effects and causes of their policies Delusions of Power New Explorations of the State War and EconomyRobert Higgs is an American economic historian and economist combining material from Public Choice the New Institutional economics and the Austrian school of economics and a libertarian anarchist in political and legal theory and public policy His writings in economics and economic history have most often focused on the causes means and effects of government power and growth. What does delusions of power mean So government could rapidly shrink during crises if only the policies which already stood on the shelves were de regulatory. The evil nature of the delusion The best chapters are 19 21 in which he extends the analysis from his classic Depression War and Cold War to the tyrannical binge the U. Delusions of powerful synonym Who did what to push the electorate into either one of the two channels How is each of the channels being formed The attention space is a scarce resource. Delusions of thought interference And those powerful groups who supported the candidate and her plank must have invested those resources to gain revenue than invested in the political process: Delusions of powerh hair Why do people tolerate the process of selection of the two candidates Because they have been massively propagandized miseducated cowed. Delusions of power definition Ch 6 During a crisis the government passes a rapid fire set of programs Here are some of the assumptions which give crisis policy making its vigor, Delusions of thought That existing organizations corporations firms must not be allowed to fail but need to be preserved: Delusions of power book pdf That expertise must be exercised by a concrete team of experts who must be given central authority to act, Delusions of powera and conflict poems That we must put aside partisanship and act together in a collective unitary act, The delusion of evolution Ch 7 Policy proposals can be likened to floating logs on the main progressive ideological current: Delusions of powerhouse gym During a crisis individuals authorize government with discretion in selecting activities and defer responsibilities to it. Delusions of powera fusion Fear accelerates the motion of logs downstream Government grows faster during crises because the dubious presumptions accelerate logrolling and strengthen multiplies the iron triangles. A history of delusions During normal times that individuals lay the ground for the future accelerated changes which occur during crises.C.Yes people have elected X but they only elected X over Y.Belief that the circumstance is exceptional.That it requires exceptional action.That acting is urgent.That crisis solving actions are a matter of expertise..